The teacher sent a bunch of photos. I froze. In several group shots, my son's face was genuinely a different color from everyone else's. Yellow. My first thought was: liver. Is it his liver?
That night I tossed and turned. The next day I secretly observed him. The whites of his eyes were white. His energy was great. He ate and pooped normally.
Just as I was about to book a weekend appointment, I remembered β we had piles of harum tangerines at home. Little Tiger couldn't get enough.
I looked it up. "Eating too many citrus fruits can turn your skin yellow" β it's called carotenemia. Oranges, tangerines, carrots, pumpkins contain lots of beta-carotene. Children have thin subcutaneous fat layers. When they consume too much, pigment deposits in the skin.
The key difference from jaundice: the whites of the eyes don't turn yellow.
I checked his eyes. Clear and bright. It was just the tangerines.
After this, we set a rule: at most one harum tangerine per day. His color returned within days.
Most of what terrifies us as parents turns out to be nothing. But every racing heart and sleepless night was real. That's just what being a mom means.